Improvement in letter-boxes



timidi Ctti5 oYEUs LEvIs, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent-Ne; 111,461, dated Jennery 31, 1871.

IMPROVEMENT' IN LETTER-Boxes.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

I, C YRUS LEVIS, of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improved Letter-Box, of which the following is a specification.

Nature and Object of' the Invention.

General Description..

A represents, in section, a street door or other-door or frame, to which it is desirable to attach a -letterbox, and to theexterior of which the box B is hinged,

at a, in the manner shown or in any other convenient manner. n The box l5 consists of a sir'nple concavo-convelx:`

plate, formed in the present instance of cast-iron,

which, when in contact with the face of the door, incloses with the latter a space, D, as shown in fig. 1, for the reception of letters. or papers, which are inserted through an opening, e, near the upper end of the plate. lhe opening e may bearrangedin any position and at any angle in the plate, and Inay, if desired,'be furnished with alid.

To the inside of -the plate, near the top of' the same, is hinged a link, Ii, to which is jointed a rod, i, the latter passing freely through an opening in the door andv through a plate, j, secured to the rear ofthe saine, the rod being furnished at its outer end with a suitable handle or knob, le'.

llhen the plate is elevated, as shown in iig. 1, a

I hook or catch, on, on the link h-overlaps the lower edge of the opening in the. plate j, and the link is depressed, owing to weightot' the arm i, which hangs vertically downward at the rear of the door. \Vhen the link is thus depressed, its hook m catches on the lower edge of the plate j, and retains the plate B in its elevated or closed position.

In order to depress the plate B, and thns open the box, it is only necessary to raise the link by means of the arm t', and disengagc its catch m fipm the lower edge of the plate j,- when the link will pass through the opening in the door, as will also a portion of the arm i, the handle k of the latter striking the plate j, and preventing the arm from passing entircl y through the opening in the door and the plate B from being opened to `too great an extent.

The .above arrangement is exceedingly simple, and can be produced at a triiiing lcost and applied to any door. It is also perfectly safe, as it cannot be opened from the outside of the door, or except through the medium of the link h and arm It will be evidentthat the lhinge a and locking devices might be arranged at the sides of the plate B,

' instead of 'at the bottom and top of the same.

Claim.

A letterfbox, consisting of a plate, B, hinged to the ontsideof a door or door-frame, and controlled by a hinged link,.h, and arm, t', adapted to an opening and plate, j, ofthe said door or frame, all substantially as described.

In testimonywhereof' have signed my name to this specication in the presence ot' two subscribing witnesses.

OYRUS LEVIS.

`Witnesses:

WM. A.,S1EEL, F. B. RICHARDS. 

